


Music Beneath the Noise

by Jairephix



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Johann's a DJ I guess now so there's that, Multi, back on my ot3 hell train, polyamorous funtimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 18:16:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19234519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jairephix/pseuds/Jairephix
Summary: His fingers twitched. It was like hearing a new engine roar to life, but not being able to see what made it purr. It'd eat at him, if he couldn't pry it open, see how it worked, and discover hidden delights in the mechanisms."Uh-oh." He heard Ren laugh. "He's got that look."





	Music Beneath the Noise

 Avi wanted a single night where he could just forget the stresses of the day. One where he could throw himself into relaxing with his girlfriend, and where the two of them could point out cute people in the bar the other would be into. It was relaxing, it was fun, it was how they bolstered their relationship. Honestly, it's how Ren had gotten a few fleeting dates with some women who could probably crush him by looking at him, one _terrifying_ date where he came home from work to find her cuddled up with his _boss_ (though Lucretia realized the awkwardness of it all and declared that the work-home relationship involved in all that was messy, and Ren said afterwards that it had been _nice_ , but not anything that would have lead to anything more than the occasional movie night).

However, as much as Avi did enjoy Ren's choices for him, they realized something utterly depressing.

Avi seemed to have a thing for unavailable men.

He slumped over his drink, sighing into the overpriced whisky, listening to what shouted conversation he could hear Ren having with Lup. Something about her brother and husband having a boys' night in. Half of it was in Elven anyway, and he wasn't quite fluent enough to follow along with it under the thrum of the bass.

Movement from the bar caught his eye. Normally, it wouldn't be much, but the modestly dressed man who seemed to try to be avoiding everyone was walking towards the DJ's booth. That in and of itself wasn't odd. After all, people could request songs. (Avi wasn't sure how one requested EDM songs, since many of them were similar enough that they blurred together to him. It wasn't like a machine, where he could pick apart the different whirs and hums of metal. Instruments were just a little foreign.)

Instead, this man disappeared into the booth, and a different man walked out. A few minutes passed before there was a noticeable shift in it. It was still the same heavy bass and high BPM, but the songs started to stand out more to Avi. The haunting strings of a violin's cry, reaching a crescendo as the bass dropped hard, an odd duet that danced through the melody. Bodies on the dance floor shifted in and out, a change of pace for those who preferred to writhe to this, rather than the intense heart-racing speeds of the songs out of the previous set.

"Oh!" He could hear Lup a little clearer now, her voice barely raspy from the shouting. "This is the DJ I was telling you about. Johann." Avi turned, discovering that she was talking to Ren still. It didn't matter, he was still interested. "He does all the music in his set himself. Each instrument, all the post-production. Everything. He's _good_ , but that lack of confidence..." She shook her head, blonde and cherry red flashing under the faintly strobing houselights. "He's keeping himself here, instead of actually pursuing it, you know?"

"How do you know all this?" He found himself speaking, curious. There was a _depth_  to the music, one that made even his clumsy, two-left-feet self want to get up and dance. He loathed dancing. Ren said he was precious when he did, in the same way a toddler coating themselves in peanut butter was precious.

"Easy!" The grin she flashed made him think that, maybe, Lup had ways of finding things out he didn't want to know about. She was scary when she wanted to know something, scarier still if someone made her mad. Brilliant, but terrifying. "But I don't think you wanna know."

"They had the same 100s level English course in college." Ren rolled her eyes. Avi smiled. She looked stunning tonight, wearing silvers so bright they looked white against the deep blue-grey of her skin. It made her hair look like moonlight. "He gave Taako a CD that has some of his early work on it. Just classical styled stuff, nothing mixed. It's quite pretty. Great studying music."

"It's like if elevator music was good. Like, actually good," Lup added.

"I don't think that's supposed to be a compliment."

"Eeeeh, it works, doesn't it?"

He let himself fade back out of that conversation, wondering if he could learn more about this new DJ. Avi just wanted to hear more of the music, that's all. Not that he was more than a little taken in by the conservatively dressed man who seemed to be hiding his looks while in a club full of barely-dressed people. Who apparently played music because he wanted to, and did it well, and if Avi wanted to dance to music that was edited to be dance music, what was the power of the raw instrumentals?

His fingers twitched. It was like hearing a new engine roar to life, but not being able to see what made it purr. It'd eat at him, if he couldn't pry it open, see how it worked, and discover hidden delights in the mechanisms.

"Uh-oh." He heard Ren laugh. "He's got that look."

He couldn't be bothered with blushing. A new song started, and maybe if he listened hard enough, he could pick it apart as easily as he could pick apart an engine block.

 

* * *

 

The DJ almost slipped Avi's mind.

It had been 3 weeks since they had gone back to the club. Ren just started a new semester at her culinary school, Lucretia's company had gained enough through fundraising that they needed a technician to help install heating systems which meant Avi was busy with that side-job on top of his daily work as a mechanic.

Almost, because he wasn't expecting to be working on that DJ's car.

It had started as a routine inspection...which failed, and a surprisingly large amount of money for someone who owned a junk car passed hands to get the problem fixed now, instead of fixing all of it over time and coming back later. Most people did tend to leave their car inspections until the last minute, and then panic about needing to get that inspection done as soon as possible, but this was early in the month still.

Hey, money was money, right? And his boss didn't care, as long as they got paid for the labor and parts.

It started with Avi wiping his hands on a rag, getting the last of the grease off them the best he could before he scrubbed down with that pumice soap that smelled like pure orange juice. He was reading down the checklist, making sure he had done all the maintenance so the car's owner could just pay for this and the inspection all in one go.

"Right, so...with the new parts, the much-needed oil change, and the inspection fee, it's going to run--" He looked up and stopped. His jaw worked a little, and suddenly the world felt a little dizzy.

Ren liked to tease him that he had a thing for elves of any sort. She wasn't wrong--he found their expressive ears as endearing as some people did freckles. Humans simply didn't have the muscles required for it, and sometimes it was easier to read a person if you could look at the cant of their ears than listening to the tone of their voice.

The half-elf in front of him was handsome. Most elves were pretty, with high cheekbones. The squarer face, the small points to his ears beneath the tight curls. The modest, simple clothing, long-fingered hands. A faint memory of seeing the backseat of the car included a music stand, several notebooks, and paper for writing music on....

Oh.

Oh, this was that DJ, Johann....

Oh.

Oh no.

_He's cute._

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO NERDLINGS, long time no write! I had a sudden burst of late night inspiration, and instead of working on my ghost hunting OT3 fic...this came out. We'll see where this leads us, eh? (Also, yikes, this keeps pointing me at how long I've been out of the club scene, and how little I remember from the one time I didn't go to a goth/industrial club.)


End file.
